WE’VE all experienced that sinking feeling when we approach the Hopgrove roundabout only to find it jammed solid. Often, the road can be backed up as far as Grimston Bar.

And if you do manage to get past Hopgrove, the A64 can remain blocked for miles, the regular bottlenecks where dual carriageway becomes single lane causing multiple hold-ups.

This newspaper has called repeatedly for the whole of the A64 between York and the coast to be dualled.

The road is a chronic drag on the economies of York and the Yorkshire coast, and causes untold misery for holidaymakers.

Well, now it looks as though at last the Government has listened – in part, at least. It has emerged that hidden in the £15 billion of roads investment announced by Chancellor George Osborne last week was £250 million for major improvements to the A64.

The money will pay for yet more work on the Hopgrove roundabout – surely one of the most hated road junctions in this part of the world – as well as for proper dualling of a significant stretch of the A64 itself towards Scarborough.

Exactly how much of the road will be dualled doesn’t seem entirely clear yet. Scarborough MP Robert Goodwill, a Tory junior transport minister, said the aim would be to “get as much dualling as possible”. That seems a little half-hearted. It is possible to imagine the £250 million running out and dualling suddenly stopping – so that the bottlenecks are simply pushed further east towards Malton.

But at least this is a start. The key now is for work to begin as soon as possible, instead of plans being allowed to drag on for years.